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Taking Action Through Advocacy
Girl Scout Junior Kaydence from Troop 916 in Chesapeake took action through advocacy to make a difference. She spoke at the Chesapeake School Board meeting on August 14 to support access to school facilities by Girl Scouts. The school board was considering denying access to all non-school affiliated groups, and that included Girl Scouts. Troop 916 has been meeting at Greenbrier Primary School since 2017 and has been grateful for having a convenient and safe place to meet within their community.
“This year, we’ve done so much and having a meeting place at the school has made it possible for us to do a lot of activities we couldn’t have done,” Kaydence said. “We earned the Citizen Scientist badge by making observations on ants and squirrels in our local area, and the pollution in Chesapeake waterways. Our observations were entered into a real-life scientist database to help scientists all over the world collect data. We also invited a lot of community guests to our meetings. A police officer spoke about enforcing laws and safety, a firefighter spoke about fire safety and first aid, and a representative from the Peace Corps spoke about the educational rights and access to basic needs of girls across different countries in the world.”
The troop has not slowed down this summer. They are currently working on their Agent of Change Journey, a Take Action project to relocate and donate trash cans at a nearby school park and are finishing up a home goods drive for the organization ForKids. This year they also donated 3,800 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies to first responders in the area as well as to school faculty.
Thanks to Kaydence, GSCCC CEO Tracy Keller, and other community members who spoke in support of school access, the Chesapeake School Board voted to keep the current use of school facilities policy in place and continue to allow non-school affiliated clubs to use school facilities.
